Stress – an inevitable part of copywriting labor?..

Copywriting is an incredibly engrossing occupation: when new projects follow each other without any pause, you almost forget what season is outside the window. Yet, such devotion to your job isn’t wholesome neither for your writing talent nor your actual health. We tried to find out whether stress is such an inherent part of copywriters life as it is considered, and what shall you do when the computer screen starts to haunt you in the nightmares.

What Is Stress, Basically?

Thinking about copywriting, people often imagine lazy days by the sea with a cocktail in a left hand and a laptop in the right. In these fantasies, copywriter types a few sentences – and voila! – his working day is finished. But the reality (unluckily) is far away from this fairytale, and heaven knows how much we wish they’d match.

There is always that type of clients, who tests your stress resilience with more and more corrections. And there are days of non-stop work when the deadline is so close that you feel its breath behind your back. Not even mentioning the times when you take two (or more) simultaneous projects, either of which requires 100% of your attention. This charmless side of the medal is what makes copywriters wish they chose an office instead of freelance websites.

We’re all people, at long last – not the writing machines as some clients like to consider us. However, according to my observations, copywriters, regardless of their experience, sex, and age, often forget this simple verity by themselves, allowing their job occupy 20 hours of a day out of 24 available. Such working fever is unproductive and extremely dangerous – both for your mental and physical health. Here we collected three most vivid signs, which should hint you that it’s time to take a long break from work.

Top 3 Common Issues That Stress Causes

Unsteady mood and dejectedness

Depression, professional burnout, insomnia – these scary words often haunt work addicts, who experience stress more often than our bodies can handle. Other common symptoms may include low energy level or, vice versa, off-scale nervous agitation. And, of course, reaching a satisfying level of work productivity does not seem possible without proper rest.

This way, when sitting on the computer all day long, you do yourself a disservice through wasting precious time, which could be spent in more pleasant (and healthy) ways. We by no means advice copywriters to forget about their job – which is, however, quite a useful tip to use from time to time – but to alternate relaxation periods with work, and to remember to make small pauses for a cup of tasty coffee or tea.

Permanent muscle tension or pain

Stress has an accumulation property, which means it doesn’t disappear with its source. You should raise a red flag if you continuously feel muscle tension, especially when trying to sleep or purposefully relax.

Another side of this symptom is called chronic muscle pain. Because of the boundary muscle strain, you may experience all the palette of awful sensations – from a headache to cramps in legs. Studies have shown a direct correlation between the increase of cortisol (a stress hormone) and pain syndrome.

So, headaches after a sleepless night shouldn’t be a surprise for you. The absence of rest is the same old stress, which strikes the well-being of your whole body, and, especially, musculoskeletal system.

Decrease of your body immune defences

Forget about the strong immune system if you work 24/7 and be ready to meet your doctor on a daily basis because a common cold is the smallest trouble you have increased chances to face. According to the statistics, high levels of cortisol might provoke acne, digestion problems (including problems with the appetite), allergies, infections and all sorts of diagnoses to fit any taste.

If your old chronical illnesses remember about themselves, while new issues appear faster than you can cure them, then it’s definitely the time to plan your forthcoming holidays.

How To Prevent Or Deal With Stress Disorders

The most basic thing you must do is to isolate from the stressor – a factor, that causes the abundant negative emotions. The measures may include:

a complete break from copywriting on a period, which would be enough to restore your body’s energy

a stoppage of work with an excessively picky or annoyingly persistent client

to spend more time with your friends, family, or while doing your hobby

time-to-time coffee/tea pauses if the project is really urgent and your friends are busy hiding from your sad stories about deadlines and other copywriting stuff

Visit a doctor IMMEDIATELY if you notice some health problems, and DO NOT try to cure them by yourself! Stress is harmful, but in most cases, it plays only the secondary role in a disease spreading. The same is fair for psychological health, so do not hesitate to visit a specialist if the negative emotions are too powerful to deal with.

The recipe of the stress prevention is simple:

eat healthily

do sports

sleep thoroughly

and stay positive, because no matter what problems happen in your hard copywriter’s life – they’re all temporary!

Summing Up

Stress is OK. Yeah, it really does – if you feel it once a month, when you run out of your favorite cereals. In other cases – it’s a danger for your health, body, and mind, which impact is very hard to neutralize.

So, before taking the fifth project into work, ask future yourself a simple question – would the received money be worth all the damage your organism will take? We hope that, after reading this article, the answer to that question would be negative.

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alexandranakonechna

Sasha is fascinated by how letters come into words, words - into sentences, and sentences come together to form texts. When she's writing, she forgets about the outer world. More than 3 years of copywriting experince for her felt like a moment - and she isn't going to stop creating!
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